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A Matter of Time (episode)
A time traveler from the 26th century arrives to witness an attempt to save a doomed planet. Summary A man named Berlinghoff Rasmussen appears aboard the ''Enterprise''-D claiming to be an historian from the future, specializing in 24th century interstellar issues. His presence on board is quite disruptive since he refuses to reveal anything about the future, but he nevertheless drops many hints that something important is about to happen. Simultaneously, the Enterprise is trying to fix extreme weather problems on the planet Penthara IV, a colony with a population of some twenty million persons. Eventually, Captain Picard is faced with a huge dilemma: the Enterprise can initiate a chain reaction in the atmosphere that should fix the problem, but if calculations are ever so slightly off, life on the planet will be wiped out. Picard forcefully asks for Rasmussen's help: can he tell what happened to Penthara IV? While Picard concedes that there might be some sort of Temporal Prime Directive in the future that procludes Rasmussen from aiding him, he argues that this is a situation where the directive could be violated. Rasmussen refuses to help, but Picard nevertheless chooses the correct course of action. Meanwhile, a number of small objects go missing and Picard suspects Rasmussen, who is confronted before he heads back into the future and asked to let Data inspect his time-travel pod for the missing items. Once inside, Rasmussen abducts Data and reveals that he is actually from the 22nd century, stole the time-travel pod from the original historian from the future, and that he plans to return to his own time with the high-tech objects he has stolen, now including Data, and "invent" them. However, his attempt is foiled, as the stolen phaser he uses to knock out Data has been deactivated remotely. Picard orders Worf to arrest Rasmussen, despite his pleas to be let go. The pod vanishes, stranding him in the future. Worf leads Rasmussen to the brig, with Picard welcoming him to the 24th century and remarking there are "many real historians that would be interested in talking to you." Background Information * The character of Berlingoff Rasmussen was originally written for Robin Williams, who opted out in order to play Peter Pan in the movie Hook. * The time pod was a reuse of the shuttle Nenebek exterior set, later reused as the ''Toron''-class shuttle. *There is a reference to this episode in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fourth season episode "Bar Association". In that episode, Odo cites the case of Rasmussen as an example of a security breach aboard the Enterprise. Continuity *Geordi's VISOR appears in Berlingoff's shuttle even though Geordi was just wearing it while on the planet. It may be that he has more than one VISOR although other episodes seem to allude to him only having one. Memorable Quotes "Everyone dies, Captain! It's just a question of when!" :- Berlinghoff Rasmussen "To try or not to try. To take a risk or play it safe. Your arguments reminded me how precious the right to choose is. And because I was never the one to play it safe, I choose to try." :- Jean-Luc Picard "I assume your hand will activiate the door whether or not you are conscious." :- Data, after Rasmussen discovers the phaser he is holding Data hostage with no longer works "Welcome to the 24th century." :- Jean-Luc Picard Links and References Guest Stars *Matt Frewer as Berlinghoff Rasmussen *Stefan Gierasch as Hal Moseley *Sheila Franklin as Felton *Shay Garner as Female Scientist Co-Starring *Tracee Lee Cocco as Jae (uncredited) Parts played by unknown performers * Martinez References Adrienne; apple; atmosphere; automobile; auto-phaser interlock; Johann Sebastian Bach; Ludwig van Beethoven; berylite scan; bible; bioscan; Julius Caesar; carbon dioxide; Celsius; Corsica; Beverly Crusher; crystal; d'k tahg; deflector dish; deflector shield; earthquake; electrostatic energy; empath; [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C)|USS Enterprise-C]]; EPS tap; exothermal inversion; fly; Ford Model A; Ford Model T; The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare: The Complete Works; greenhouse effect; Johann Gutenberg; historian; Adolf Hitler; Homer; Jupiter symphony; La donna è mobile; lightning rod; Abraham Lincoln; John Milton; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Claude Monet; museum; New Jersey; New Seattle; nuclear winter; neural stimulator; Miles O'Brien; PADD; Penthara IV; Pentharan; phaser; phaser drill; philosophy; plasma; plasticized tritanium mesh; poker; predestination paradox; Prime Directive; quarantine field; Berlinghoff Rasmussen; Redstone missile; Richter magnitude scale; Rigoletto; Risa; river; sector; sensor; shield inverter; Khan Noonien Singh; Noonien Soong; spring dance; Starbase 214; Starfleet; Suzanne; Symphony Number Nine; Telurian plague; temporal distortion; terawatt; Third Brandenburg Concerto; Time travel pod; tricorder; type C asteroid; Giuseppe Verdi; VISOR; volcano; warp coil; Stevie Wonder; wormhole See also * Time travel episodes Matter of Time, A de:Der zeitreisende Historiker nl:A Matter of Time